NCCAM Web Site Information and Policies

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Who funds the NCCAM Web site

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and its Web site are funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), United States Government.

Does NCCAM endorse products or other Web sites?

No, NCCAM does not endorse or recommend any commercial products, processes, or services. The information on NCCAM's Web site may not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes.

Linking to Us

Organizations are welcome to link to the NCCAM Web site. Links to the NCCAM Web site may not give the appearance of endorsing any commercial products, processes, or services.

External Links

NCCAM policy limits outside links to other Federal government agencies and selected NCCAM grantees and partners. Exceptions may be made on a case-by-case basis. For example, temporary links may be established with an organization that is conducting a meeting for which NCCAM is providing sponsorship. In addition, links to the developers of tools that assist visitors in using Web site technology are provided (e.g., Adobe Acrobat Reader).

NCCAM is not responsible for the availability, accessibility, or content of these external sites, nor does NCCAM endorse information described or offered at these other Web sites.

What is the source of the medical information on this site?

Medical information presented on this site is derived from rigorous research on complementary and alternative medicine. Fact sheets produced by NCCAM are carefully reviewed by both NCCAM scientists and outside experts. The NIH has developed information quality guidelines to maintain the high quality of information.

Does NCCAM provide medical advice or referrals?

It is not the intention of NCCAM to provide specific medical advice, but rather to provide users with information to better understand complementary and alternative medicine. Mention of a specific treatment or resource on NCCAM's Web site does not imply endorsement by NCCAM, NIH, or DHHS.

NCCAM cautions users not to seek the complementary and alternative therapies described on this site without consulting a licensed health care provider to discuss both the advantages and risks of complementary and alternative medical treatments.

If you contact the NCCAM Clearinghouse for information, please be aware that specific medical advice or referrals to alternative health care practitioners cannot be provided. Information Specialists at the NCCAM Clearinghouse are trained to assist callers and provide other sources of information. However, because Information Specialists are not health care professionals, the information they provide cannot substitute for the medical expertise and advice of your primary health care provider.

What is this site's privacy policy?

NCCAM automatically collects and temporarily stores the following information about your visit: the domain name from which you access the Internet (such as "aol.com"), the date and time you access our site, the pages you visited, and the address of the Web site from which you came to our site. This information is not associated with individual users, it is used to measure the number of visitors to the various sections of the site and to help make the site more useful. Unless it is specifically stated otherwise, no additional information will be collected about you.

NCCAM's Online Continuing Education Series, developed in collaboration with Cini-Med, Inc., collects information during registration for the purpose of providing continuing education credit. None of the data collected will be provided to third parties, unless required by law. Cookies are used within the continuing education program to keep track of your current session. They are erased when you logout or close your browser.

When inquiries are e-mailed to NCCAM, the question and the e-mail address information are stored so that NCCAM can respond electronically. Unless otherwise required by statute, NCCAM does not identify publicly who sends questions or comments to the Web site. NCCAM will not obtain information that will allow personal identification when you visit the site, unless you chose to provide such information.

To assure the integrity of information on this server, NCCAM reserves the right to monitor system access if malicious actions are taken to disable on-line services or intentionally gain unauthorized access to NIH systems.

Questions about NCCAM privacy policies should be sent to the NCCAM Privacy Act Officer.

Text: Text on the NCCAM Web site is not copyrighted and is in the public domain. You may print and copy our publications. Please credit the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine as the source, and include the publication title and date, where applicable. Do not use our information in a way that suggests we endorse any commercial product or service. Because we routinely review and update information, we encourage you to link directly to our Web site.

Occasionally, the NCCAM site may contain documents or links to documents, such as full-text journal articles, that are copyright protected. Web users may view and print these documents. Contact the copyright owner for any other uses.

Images: Most photos and graphics on our site were purchased and are protected by copyright. Copyrighted material carries a credit line indicating that it did not originate at NCCAM. Please do not copy these photos and graphics on our Web site without permission from the copyright owner. Images within the NCCAM Image Gallery, however, are freely available for non-commercial scientific and educational use. Please see the Image Gallery's Terms of Use for details.

What is the schedule for posting content?

We post information as it becomes available, unless otherwise required by law. Some areas of the NCCAM Web site are updated daily while others may not be updated for weeks or months.